


It's Not My Fight (Stand Up Anyway)

by Ash_Cassidy97



Series: The Better World Challenge [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Badass, Bigotry & Prejudice, Danny-centric, Happy Ending, Hate Crimes, Hate Speech, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Jackson-Centric, Protective Jackson, based on real life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 18:41:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4716521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash_Cassidy97/pseuds/Ash_Cassidy97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny gets bullied, and Jackson stands up. This is how they meet.</p>
<p>Contains a lot of homophobia, and real-life circumstance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not My Fight (Stand Up Anyway)

**Author's Note:**

> Everything that happened in this has and will continue to happen. There is also a lot of horrible language. It will be heavily edited on a later date. Comments are welcome.

“You know that he’ll infect other people,” Bill told Jackson from across the lab table. It was 8th period Earth Science, and Danny was sitting three tables away, alone. Jackson clenched his jaw, but said nothing.

 

It wasn’t his fight. It is never his fight to win.

 

“It’s a disease,” Bill whispered as the teacher stepped into the room.

 

She ignored them. It wasn’t her fight. She had enough problems without adding the gay kids to her list. Standard testing was right around the corner, and her job depended on that, not making sure that fags are happy. It was California, they could marry after all.

 

“You only have to touch them to catch it,” Bill said coolly, raising his voice slightly.

 

Danny continued to copy notes off the board. The hell if he wasn’t going to go to college, a place where it would be better. Jackson tapped his toes inside his shoes. College has to be better.

 

“I’ve heard you only have to breath the air around them,” Bill stage-whispered. The other kids either snickered or dropped their eyes. They didn’t want it to be their fight.

 

Jackson taped his pen across his paper. It was black ink, ordinary and boring. Danny’s was purple, because fuck those kids so hard in the face. He would get rainbow if he could. Highschool wouldn’t be any better than Middle School. College had to be better.

 

“There should be a rule against them being here.” Jackson taped his pen once.

 

Danny didn’t cry, didn’t move, except for his purple note taking. Jackson taped his pen again, and put it down. He picked up his things, and moved over to Danny’s table. The teacher opened her mouth, and then shut it again. It wasn’t her fight.

 

It wasn’t Jackson’s fight, but he left anyway. It might not be his fight to win, but he stood anyway.

 

“Why?” Danny mouthed to him.

 

Jackson didn’t bother to answer. He didn’t have an answer. Saying that ‘it was the right thing to do’ sounded pretentious. It wasn’t his war, but he could hear the shots being fired. It was equally bigoted to ignore them.

 

The class ended. Jackson left. It was the last period of the day. Jackson sat next to Danny on the bus, not saying a word.

 

“You don’t have to be friends with me,” Danny muttered. Jackson only nodded. “You don’t even know me.”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” the other boy finally said. “Do your parents know?” Danny shook his head.

 

“No. I told the wrong friend, and they told the school. I don’t want them to know,” Danny added.

 

Jackson tugged at Danny’s sleeve until Danny got off the bus with him. They stood for a moment in front of Jackson’s house, and then they stood shoulder to shoulder in Mr. Whittemore's office.

 

“This is Danny. He’s staying over whenever he wants,” Jackson said firmly. It had never been his war, but fuck it, time to pick a side. “And we are going to take self-defense classes.”

 

“Alright.” Jackson’s father set down his pen, and met his son’s eyes squarely. His son hadn’t said more than six words since five days ago when they’d told him the truth. It had to be important for him to even be in the same room as his father. “Why?”

 

“Reasons,” Jackson firmly. Danny met Mr. Whittemore's eyes squarely instead.

 

“I’m gay.”

 

Jackson’s father nodded. He was not an idiot. He’d been to high school, this century, thank you.

 

“Alright. Thank you for telling me. The trick is always to end the fight before it begins.”

 

The trick is to remember that you are always responsible for not speaking up.

 

Mr. Whittemore showed them how to throw a punch. He said nothing about the fact that Danny started staying at their house more than Danny’s. He did say something when the school tried to kick Jackson out for getting punched in the face when defending Danny. Mrs. Whittemore had something to say about that. In her eight inch heels, she towered over the principle.

 

The principle quickly enacted sweeping reform policies about gay bashing or bullying of any kind.

 

Danny never thought she was a superhero. He never thought that Jackson was a good person, but he came pretty damn close enough.

 

Danny hit a growth spurt, and the other kids learned that his tongue was fast, and his punches were always sure. Jackson never said much about it, just kept a wary eye out. When Stiles came along, Danny did nothing to explain why he’d back Jackson all the way. Jackson had been the first person to defend him. Jackson nearly punched Stiles, because he thought that Stiles was being rude to Danny.

 

Whatever the reason was, Danny was just happy that nobody would try to mess with Stiles like they did to him. Jackson only liked Stiles after Stiles punched a kid in class for saying ‘fag’. Stiles started resorting to glitter bombs, complete with bubble gum.

 

There was never a question of whether Jackson was gay, because it was never about that. There was never a question of why he stood with Danny. Most days, Danny still thought that the bravest act he’d ever seen was a sixth grader moving five feet, and never moving back.

 

It wasn’t a fairytale ending. The princes save themselves, but never truly escape. They gained something greater instead: courage. Some days, Danny thought, it comes close to perfect.

  
End.

**Author's Note:**

> This is really close to my heart, because this kind of thing is happening at my school. The administration is doing shit, and the LGBT community is under no protection in reality. Gay marriage may be legal, but it doesn’t do shit for me right now. It doesn’t prove anything to people in my school, except that they had to fight to be considered human.
> 
> I needed a little inspiration, and the best place to start is inspiring other people. This is my place to start. This is my place to start standing up for other people, even when I can’t stand up for myself. Even if nobody else stands up.
> 
> I blame administration at least as much as I blame the bigots. The kid I’m talking about went to admin, and they got told that admin will not protect them until there is actual violence. The only hope the kid got was that they will not be kicked out when the bigot gets confident enough to throw the first punch. Maybe they never will, and this kid will end up believing that they were never good enough, that they are isolated. Put this into a sexual harassment perspective. This is saying that if you report sexual verbal harassment, there will be no help. However, if you are sexually assaulted, then you will not be thrown from the school. Until then, they will do nothing.
> 
> This is STILL GOING ON! Now, I’m working to form a support group at this school, and get people involved so they know that they are not isolated, but this is only a single thing. This is an ongoing, daily war for people who live without support, and abandoned from society. This is wrong, and inexcusable. There is no quick solution to these problems. There is no easy way to stand up for people, because you will become a target. The only advice I can offer you is to stand up when you can, be safe, and never ever say the words “I don’t need to because it will be better when . . .”.
> 
> So, my plan is to go Steve Rogers on their ass, because I’m done trying to be nice on this shit.


End file.
